'Save the MAC': Health club members try for a deal so they can keep working out

Members work out in the Cancer Well Fit program at the Michigan Athletic Club in this 2008 photo.
Katy Batdorff | MLive.com file photo

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – “Save the MAC.” That’s the rallying cry of members of the Michigan Athletic Club as they try to keep the doors open at the club that has been a community gathering spot for almost three decades.

Members have formed a Save the MAC group on Facebook and are making their case to the partners of CWD Real Estate Investment, the firm that bought the MAC property at 2500 Burton St. SE.

The sale, announced Monday, has stirred anxious discussions among members who don’t want to see the facility closed and replaced with an office building or stores. Members have contacted partners of CWD, urging them to consider keeping a health club at the location.

“It’s just been a whirlwind,” said Marilee Balke Fisher on Tuesday, Nov. 19. She started the Save the MAC group Sunday and in two days, it grew to 400 members.

“We just want to open up the lines of communication with CWD and reinforce how much the MAC adds value to our community,” she said. “We’d like to request a town-hall meeting or a meeting with a representative group – whatever they want.”

Mercy Health Saint Mary’s has owned the MAC fitness club since it opened in 1986, but not the land or buildings. It announced last summer that Saint Mary's Health Management Co. was looking for a buyer for the MAC, East Hills Athletic Club and Orchard Hills Sport and Swim Club and would close the clubs if a buyer wasn’t found before their leases expired at the end of January. Saint Mary’s said on Nov. 15 it had no firm offers for the business.

Fisher and other members said they were encouraged that the property was bought by local investors. CWD’s partners include Scott Wierda, real estate developer Sam Cummings and Dan DeVos, chairman of DP Fox Ventures.

“They have done a lot of good things in the community,” said Jeannine Lemmon, a real estate broker. “Hopefully, they will look at the operation of the MAC and decide to keep it going there.”

Four generations of Lemmon’s family have belonged to the MAC – including her parents, children and grandchildren. She and her husband joined in the 1980s.

“It’s not just a gym,” she said. “It’s been a fixture in the neighborhood for 30 years, and that’s a pretty good track record for any business, let alone a health club.”

Brendan Campbell, a 23-year-old East Grand Rapids graduate, echoed Lemmon’s thoughts. “It was never just a health club. It was always a pillar of our community,” he said.

Campbell, now a teacher in Detroit, said as a child he went to the MAC almost every day after school with his parents. That's where he learned to swim, play basketball and play tennis. Fitness, family togetherness and community connections were all part of the mix.

“To see us potentially losing such a gem that is promoting these really terrific values that we hold as important – to me, that is just tragic,” he said.

Fisher said she was told by staff that an estimated 5,000 members belong to the MAC and the two related clubs, Orchard Hills and East Hills. Memberships cost $84 a month for individuals, $134 for couples and $170 for families, with discounted rates available for those 60 and older.

Jim Shade, a Grand Rapids lawyer, said he understands the purchase of the property is a business deal – and he hopes the investors see continuing a health club at the location as a sound business decision. The facility is in good shape and the club has been well-run, he said.

He would like to see CWD manage it as a health club or lease it to another fitness organization, such as MVP Sports Clubs.

Shade joined the MAC when it opened in 1986. Since then, he has gone there almost every weekday at 5:30 a.m. to play tennis or exercise. He feels close to the staff and members he sees regularly.

“The use of this place as an athletic club is more than just another storefront,” he said. “There's just this tremendous element of community.”

CWD has not responded yet to members’ emails, Fisher said. The group, which also owns Breton Village Mall across Burton Street from the MAC, said in a news release that it would explore “a number of different options” for the property.

“Our goal with this property, first and foremost, is to do what’s best for the community and the immediate neighborhood,” Wierda said. “We are committed to the Breton Village area and do not want the property to sit vacant once the MAC closes down at its lease expiration.”

If the investors decide “what’s best for the community” is not a health club, Fisher said there will be many disappointed members.

“The first day those doors don’t open is going to be a very sad day,” she said.